Infosys Warns Employees Against Moonlighting, Says It Could Lead To Termination

Infosys has warned employees against moonlighting. In an email sent to the employees, the human resource department has said that moonlighting is not permitted according to employees' code of conduct and any violation could lead to disciplinary action including termination of employment, Times of India said in a report. The email has sent with the subject line 'No two-timing, no moonlighting', the outlet further said. This comes a month after Wipro Chairman Azim Premji termed the practice as cheating.

Moonlighting allows employees to work second jobs, outside normal business hours of the primary job, under certain conditions.

In its communication sent to employees on Monday, Infosys said that employees cannot take up other assignments during or outside business hours. The company added that it "strictly discourages dual employment", said the Times of India report.

"As clearly stated in your offer letter, you agree not to take employment, whether full-time or part-time as director/partner/member/employee of any other organisation/entity engaged in any form of business activity without the consent of Infosys. The consent may be given subject to any terms and conditions that the company may think fit and may be withdrawn at any time at the discretion of the company," the Infosys email said, as published by Times of India.

Concerns around moonlighting emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic when employees were allowed to work from remote locations. Many firms, especially in the information technology sector, came to know that their employees were using the remote working facility to simultaneously work on projects for others.

The firms said it will affect productivity, create conflict of interest and even cause data breaches.

Last month, Blackstone Group-controlled tech firm Mphasis sharpened scrutiny on its employees, according to Livemint.

"Employers need to inculcate ethics and being right... If you make something like this for short-term gains, in the long-term, you will lose out - that kind of a message has to go to the employees," it quoted N Ganapathy Subramaniam, chief operating officer of Tata Consultancy Services, as saying at an event.

Wipro Chairman Azim Premji last month said that the concept of a second job in addition to the regular job is "plain and simple" cheating. "There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating - plain and simple," Mr Premji had said.

However, food delivery platform Swiggy is the first company in India to openly promote moonlighting. It even launched an industry-first 'Moonlighting policy' in August, which encourages its employees to undertake second jobs with certain clauses, to sustain their finances. Swiggy clarified that the push was not to conflict with the company's business interests, rather pave way for the professionals to engage in passion projects and social works.